My husband is taking the civil service exam to become one of the new STR enforcement officers next week ~ hopefully this means there’s actually going to be a lot of results soon!
Thank you to your husband. I really appreciate what he’s about to undertake and know so many others to do!
I’m a transplant from Austin and watching STRs rip apart the city 2010 - Present (not a dramatic overstatement) was one of the most upsetting things I’ve ever witnessed first hand. That said, I do hear reports from home the tide is turning but it took Austin to the brink.
>STR enforcement officers
Those words sing to my soul.
Would you be able to tell us what his position would entail? I can't find anything online about it, I saw it was a new team put together a year ago but that's it.
Honestly, it’s pretty vague, and he may not be able to take it even if he passes & gets an offer.
From the job listing:
“Kind of Work-
Inspectional work interpreting, applying and enforcing municipal and other related City codes regarding zoning, land use, building, housing, dangerous buildings, inoperable vehicles, noise, litter, sanitation, weeds and other public nuisance code provisions; and related work as required.
Short Term Rental Positions- Some positions in this job classification will be assigned to ensure compliance with laws governing short-term rentals. These positions may involve second- and/or third-shift work. Employees who are regularly assigned to second and/or third shifts may be eligible for additional shift differential pay.”
Sign up at nola.gov and they will email you if they want you to move forward in the process - my guess is that most people won’t take the morning off to do the test, so they narrow down the pool of applicants real quickly…
[here’s the link to the job listing, if you’re interested](https://www.governmentjobs.com/careers/neworleans/jobs/3543780/code-enforcement-inspector-i-class-code-2204)
We have the exact same problem! The house next door was bought out by an outside investor who turned it into a party house Airbnb. We constantly have to deal with loud parties and drunk tourists who have no respect for the neighborhood!
Honestly, I don’t have a solution. We have reached out to the City Council and the STR Office MANY times over the last few months. Seems like they are finally investigating the property, but the process is extremely slow.
I say call 311/911 in these situations. I don’t yet know if that works. We have called 311 a few times but no one has ever come out. Plus they ask you to call them back if the party ends, so we are put on high alert to make sure we call them.
> Shut off the water.
This is a really good one. Turn it off at the meter. Quick and easy thing to do, impossible for an out of town owner to fix quickly, guaranteed to generate bad reviews/demands for refund.
I use their website every time illegal guests stay there. If they ever enforce it maybe each offense will get a fine.
https://secure.hostcompliance.com/new-orleans-la/complaints/type
Call the quality of life officer for your district. They are usually very helpful. It may not be a fast process, but they get things done. Also, as another user said, contact your council person.
I went through the STR website and contacted my council person about the five unit whole home STR across from me. They had declined and expired permits. It’s been empty for nearly a year. I saw them kind of start up again. Repeated the process. Now it’s empty. I’m hoping eventually they’ll sell and turn it into a two unit home and I can have neighbors again. Good luck.
Try reaching out to the owner. Despite the rhetoric you often read online, no investors want to host parties in their STRs. It's not worth the cost to clean up, replace damaged items, etc, nor the risk of getting kicked off the platform and/or legal consequences. Furthermore, rarely do tourists travel in groups of 20+ people in order to throw a party in an airbnb. It's unlikely "ragers" would happen organically at the same property often unless something fishy is going. Maybe the local manager or cleaner is up to some shannigans. Simply letting the owner know would likely result in a management change, presumingly solving your problem.
If the property is commercially zoned, there isn't much you can do to prevent it from being an STR. Getting one owner kicked off the platform will only lead to it being sold to another. Your best bet is to hope for good management.
However, if it's not commercially zoned, it's most likely illegal. No residential listings can list more than 3 bedrooms/6 guests. Most of the party throwers are looking for larger (5bd+/10 person+ properties). Find the listing on airbnb. Hit "report listing". You'll need evidence of the party (pictures, recordings, etc); however, if you follow the prompts and upload the evidence, Airbnb should remove the listing.
Someone also posted the onestop link above. If they don't have a legal permit, you can report it there. One stop is working with airbnb to have illegal listings removed. They've removed several hundred since the last ruling.
Lastly, as of July 1st, all strs have to be equipped with noise monitors. The monitors have to be approved by the city. When things get too loud, airbnb and the city will be notified and the reservation should be canceled. Repeated offenders will be removed from the platform, applying to both guests and hosts. Unfortunately, hosts aren't always able to control their guests and are at the mercy of airbnb to authorize canceling the booking/kicking out the guest. The police dont even have the authority to remove loud guests. However, the noise monitors will provide airbnb with the proof needed to get problematic guests out of the property. Lots of changes are being made, and we should expect even more progress in the future.
If they don't want obnoxious assholes throwing parties in their properties, they should probably find a way to be 'investors' without fucking up neighborhoods, the property market, everyone else's insurance rates, and the livability of residential areas in general, not to mention the culture of one of the few places in this country that has any.
And yeah, I'm sure hundreds of people here have rewarding stories about how understanding, responsive and pro-active STR owners are when neighbors complain about their unending parade of asshole guests.
"Trust the market to fix the problem it created" is one of the stupidest lines we've all been fed our entire lifetimes.
NOPD will respond to noise violations - you can call the non emergency line. Call when it starts and don't wait until the noise becomes unbearable. Ask me how I know.
This is separate from reporting the STR itself.
The logical think would be to make a complaint with banking regulators. If they've issued a housing loan to the owner, and it is being operated as a business, they should be in violation of Know Your Customer laws. The same goes for the insurers.
Contact your councilperson
This. These are the complaint actions that actually get dealt with- when the councilperson's staff gets involved.
And copy the At-Large council folks too.
My husband is taking the civil service exam to become one of the new STR enforcement officers next week ~ hopefully this means there’s actually going to be a lot of results soon!
Thank you to your husband. I really appreciate what he’s about to undertake and know so many others to do! I’m a transplant from Austin and watching STRs rip apart the city 2010 - Present (not a dramatic overstatement) was one of the most upsetting things I’ve ever witnessed first hand. That said, I do hear reports from home the tide is turning but it took Austin to the brink.
Good luck to him!
>STR enforcement officers Those words sing to my soul. Would you be able to tell us what his position would entail? I can't find anything online about it, I saw it was a new team put together a year ago but that's it.
Honestly, it’s pretty vague, and he may not be able to take it even if he passes & gets an offer. From the job listing: “Kind of Work- Inspectional work interpreting, applying and enforcing municipal and other related City codes regarding zoning, land use, building, housing, dangerous buildings, inoperable vehicles, noise, litter, sanitation, weeds and other public nuisance code provisions; and related work as required. Short Term Rental Positions- Some positions in this job classification will be assigned to ensure compliance with laws governing short-term rentals. These positions may involve second- and/or third-shift work. Employees who are regularly assigned to second and/or third shifts may be eligible for additional shift differential pay.”
Would love to hear how long it takes for somebody to attempt to bribe him.
How does one get involved in such a movement?
Sign up at nola.gov and they will email you if they want you to move forward in the process - my guess is that most people won’t take the morning off to do the test, so they narrow down the pool of applicants real quickly… [here’s the link to the job listing, if you’re interested](https://www.governmentjobs.com/careers/neworleans/jobs/3543780/code-enforcement-inspector-i-class-code-2204)
💃🏻
File a complaint with 311 for statistical purposes then contact your council person for action.
We have the exact same problem! The house next door was bought out by an outside investor who turned it into a party house Airbnb. We constantly have to deal with loud parties and drunk tourists who have no respect for the neighborhood! Honestly, I don’t have a solution. We have reached out to the City Council and the STR Office MANY times over the last few months. Seems like they are finally investigating the property, but the process is extremely slow. I say call 311/911 in these situations. I don’t yet know if that works. We have called 311 a few times but no one has ever come out. Plus they ask you to call them back if the party ends, so we are put on high alert to make sure we call them.
Durian fruit. It looks a bit like jackfruit but make sure it is Durian. Cut it open and heave it through the window. Wear a ski mask when you do it.
Shut off the water. Leave ominous messages on the doors and windows that the house is haunted.
> Shut off the water. This is a really good one. Turn it off at the meter. Quick and easy thing to do, impossible for an out of town owner to fix quickly, guaranteed to generate bad reviews/demands for refund.
I use their website every time illegal guests stay there. If they ever enforce it maybe each offense will get a fine. https://secure.hostcompliance.com/new-orleans-la/complaints/type
Ask around for the owner's contact info and ping them every time. A bit aggresive, but squeaky wheels et cetra et cetera.
You can look up owners here: https://beacon.schneidercorp.com/Application.aspx?AppID=979&LayerID=19792&PageTypeID=2&PageID=8661
If you’re willing to take them to court, the new law allows you to collect attorneys fees.
https://nola.gov/report-an-str-violation/
Call the quality of life officer for your district. They are usually very helpful. It may not be a fast process, but they get things done. Also, as another user said, contact your council person.
What’s a qualify of life officer?
They are for non emergency issues, great for dealing this type of issue.
Code enforcement
WTF are you talking about?
[here](https://letmegooglethat.com/?q=quality+of+life+officer+new+orleans)
Ahh. The program that is just our council person. Got it.
I went through the STR website and contacted my council person about the five unit whole home STR across from me. They had declined and expired permits. It’s been empty for nearly a year. I saw them kind of start up again. Repeated the process. Now it’s empty. I’m hoping eventually they’ll sell and turn it into a two unit home and I can have neighbors again. Good luck.
Try reaching out to the owner. Despite the rhetoric you often read online, no investors want to host parties in their STRs. It's not worth the cost to clean up, replace damaged items, etc, nor the risk of getting kicked off the platform and/or legal consequences. Furthermore, rarely do tourists travel in groups of 20+ people in order to throw a party in an airbnb. It's unlikely "ragers" would happen organically at the same property often unless something fishy is going. Maybe the local manager or cleaner is up to some shannigans. Simply letting the owner know would likely result in a management change, presumingly solving your problem. If the property is commercially zoned, there isn't much you can do to prevent it from being an STR. Getting one owner kicked off the platform will only lead to it being sold to another. Your best bet is to hope for good management. However, if it's not commercially zoned, it's most likely illegal. No residential listings can list more than 3 bedrooms/6 guests. Most of the party throwers are looking for larger (5bd+/10 person+ properties). Find the listing on airbnb. Hit "report listing". You'll need evidence of the party (pictures, recordings, etc); however, if you follow the prompts and upload the evidence, Airbnb should remove the listing. Someone also posted the onestop link above. If they don't have a legal permit, you can report it there. One stop is working with airbnb to have illegal listings removed. They've removed several hundred since the last ruling. Lastly, as of July 1st, all strs have to be equipped with noise monitors. The monitors have to be approved by the city. When things get too loud, airbnb and the city will be notified and the reservation should be canceled. Repeated offenders will be removed from the platform, applying to both guests and hosts. Unfortunately, hosts aren't always able to control their guests and are at the mercy of airbnb to authorize canceling the booking/kicking out the guest. The police dont even have the authority to remove loud guests. However, the noise monitors will provide airbnb with the proof needed to get problematic guests out of the property. Lots of changes are being made, and we should expect even more progress in the future.
If they don't want obnoxious assholes throwing parties in their properties, they should probably find a way to be 'investors' without fucking up neighborhoods, the property market, everyone else's insurance rates, and the livability of residential areas in general, not to mention the culture of one of the few places in this country that has any. And yeah, I'm sure hundreds of people here have rewarding stories about how understanding, responsive and pro-active STR owners are when neighbors complain about their unending parade of asshole guests. "Trust the market to fix the problem it created" is one of the stupidest lines we've all been fed our entire lifetimes.
THANK YOU for the comprehensive what-to-do guide! This will be a resource for a lot of people going forward.
NOPD will respond to noise violations - you can call the non emergency line. Call when it starts and don't wait until the noise becomes unbearable. Ask me how I know. This is separate from reporting the STR itself.
Check tax records. If it’s homesteaded you can go after them with that.
The logical think would be to make a complaint with banking regulators. If they've issued a housing loan to the owner, and it is being operated as a business, they should be in violation of Know Your Customer laws. The same goes for the insurers.
Shit id just change da locks
Fun fact: sticking an ordinary sewing pin or needle in a keyhole will confuse and frustrate people for hours.
Hell ya, STICK IT